Union 25th Eagle Squad
Chronicle Age: The Hamadromachia GED Span: 2673 to 2676 The Union 25th Eagle Squad was a company of veteran human soldiers who earned a significant reputation during the Hamadromachia. The Union itself has disavowed and demonized them, viewing them as renegades who defected when their people needed them. The people however tell a different story. Soldiers and civilians alike who have encountered the members of this remarkable squad speak of an integrity and spirit that exemplifies the tenacious and compassionate strength of humanity. Their ship, the Aquila XXV, further cemented their repuation as the first instance of a human/vasharil cooperative effort to develop a powerful cyberwarfare frigate for the Union fleets. The squad *Josiah Staier; Former Union sergeant and commanding officer of Eagle Squad. *Primrose Eberhart; Former Union corporal and ace pilot. Second-in-command. *Thaddeus Rever; Former Union corporal and saboteur. *BOB; Renegade synth assault trooper. *Jethro Bell; Former Union corporal and demolitions expert, AWOL. *Jack McFodder; Union private, AWOL. *Lance Harding; Union corporal and combat medic, AWOL. Known Associates *Khorshed Nasrin; vasharil civilian engineer and convicted war criminal. *Nathaniel 'Ironbrow' Stanford; former Union captian, venerable steward of the Aquila XXV. *Councillor Kaimi; Hui'na POW, freed and abducted by Eagle Squad. Known Contacts *Colonel Dartmouth *Admiral Thaddeus Raun *Jaffar *Simin Omid *Arzu Morvarid Invasion of Ceti Eagle Squad first made a name for itself during the retaliatory strike to halt Imperative plans in the Union system of Ceti. After a perilous blockade rush and haphazard landing, the squad managed to take and hold the strategic bunker at Joker's Point from the invaders, and protected it until reinforcements could secure the location. Rendezvousing with the rest of the counter-offensive at Fort Constance, Eagle Squad came under the command of Colonel Dartmouth. They were assigned to the task of liberating a northward listening post close to the Barrani landing and deployment zone. With naught but an APC and a small company of soldiers, the squad recaptured the post and secured several prisoners - Khorshed Nasrin among them. The civilian vasharil pleaded for asylum and was eventually place begrudgedly in the care of sergeant Staier. With Nasrin's aid in deciphering the recovered barrani missives retrieved from the listening post, the squad was able to initiate an attack on the contested city Abelan. There, as part of a small commando unit, the squad disrupted the Imperative's attempt to rig and detonate a cryo-terraforming bomb, alllowing Union forces to regroup and rout the invaders once and for all. Eridin Blitz Three years later, Eagle Squad was reformed to crew the newly constructed Aquila XXV. A routine patrol mission led to the discovery of the derelict Union cruiser: Gassendi. Eagle Squad investigated to find signs of alien activity. Their report as among the first warnings of the impending Confluence attack that soon surged from the depths of the Eridu Nebula. On behest of Admiral Thaddeus Raun, Eagle Squad was sent in pursuit of the mysterious enemy commando unit that had attacked the Gassendi. Union intelligence located the unit on the renowned university world of Mnemosyne in the Drachnos system. The soldiers were deployed to track down and capture their target even as the Confluence's flagship Leviathan bombarded the planet. The mission was successful, and the squad not only managed to down several of the monsterous lykin deployed by the saphis attackers, but captured the hui'na councillor responsible for the attack on the Gassendi. However, it was during this mission that the squad entered a covert military research lab and released the captured Illuigant held there by the Union since the Golden Age. In its death-throes, the scionic creature vaporized almost a third of the city. Following this event, a military tribunal was held at a deep space supply depot, in the Endiku Sea. Aboard the Union flagship: Drakemourne, admirals Mercy and Raun awaited the arrival of Admiral Cyrus before commencing the preceedings. The members of the squad were implored to place the fault of the distaster on Mnemosyne squarely on the vasharil Nasrin, or suffer the consequences of actions that could at best be seen as gross insubordination and destruction of Union property, and at worse would be a warcrime befitting of the harshest punishment. Before the tribunal could be convened, an attack was launched by Imperative forces. Josiah Steier, Thadeeus Rever and BOB aided the Union in driving off the attacking fleets - removing the inhibitors from the ship's scion core in the process. In weighing their options upon claiming victory, they decided to abscond aboard the Aquila XXV. They freed a critically injured Khorshed Nasrin and took into their custody the hui'na Kaimi before completing their desertion with the help of captian Stanford. Following these events, corporal Eberhart was tasked by admiral Mercy to track and recapture the rest of the squad. When she found the ship, it was adrift in the asteroid belts of the Gairdian system. Within, the corporal found the ship warped by the mindscape of the awakened scion core. She found corporal Rever and together with the aid of Kaimi, they returned the ship to normal by reinserting and sedating the cambion: Ben Soubi, into the ship's Core casket. Haven Refugees After temporarily calming the Aquila XXV's Scion Core, Eagle Squad set a course for the Othrys system to lay low at the Independent refugee colony: Haven. During their flight to the Gairidan system beacon, they were accosed by a Union patrol cruiser. In the ensuing fight, Aquila XXV nearly crippled the cruiser but suffered heavy damage in the process. They managed to initiate a sinistra jaunt but due to the impact on the ship systems, the Aquila XXV ended its jaunt with too great a velocity. They reached the Othrys system, however - without the requisite time to aerate, they were forced to eject their reactor core and subsequently crashed into Lamia's upland wilderness. Staier, Eberhart, Rever, Nasrin, Kaimi and Bell trekked through the wilds for just over a week before coming across a PaxPantheon rescue patrol who transported them to Haven. On the outskirts of the colony, Eagle Squad spent several days in the interim camps on Pax Landing, waiting to be processed into the colony proper. When they found that the import of weapons was not tolerated, Staier and Primrose resolved to sell their gear to a crew of jaunter merchants for a crate of supplies and sundry items. Upon inspection, the crate was found also to contain Solar Dust: a contraband narcotic. Fourtunately, they managed to smuggle the entirety into the colony with them and were assigned to the residential sector 46. Staier and Eberhart began arranging for supplies and the salvage of the Aquila XXV wreck, but found themselves at odds with the Black Serpent gang, seeking recompense for the smuggled narcotics. The soldiers chose to contact the Lamia Security Force and drove off the criminals. After completing his stay at the Customs Hospice, Rever rejoined Staier, Primrose, Nasrin and Kaimi inside the Haven colony and the group proceeded to work off their debt with the scrapyard merchant Jaffar. The following evening, they mingled with the other refugees in Sector 46. In conversing with the vasharil trader Simin Omid, they learned of a contact in Gutter Town who might be able to help them acquire weapons and a revenue in a blood-sport tournament. Additionally they encountered young Arzu Morvarid, a bitter young daeva being transported back to a dark fate in the Imperative. The squad followed up on Simin Omid's suggestion to contact the clandestine Constantine. After a back-room meeting in Guttertown's 'Splendid Landing' watering hole, they set up a possible UTC connection to acquire weapons and were pointed to a local blood-sport fighting ring. Staier attempted to bond with bitter young Arzu Morvarid and agreed to bring the child to the blood-sport arena. There, Primrose fought a veteran cage-fighter and won, killing her opponent to please the crowd. As they left, Rever cornered young Morvarid and challenged the standoffish child. With unbridled sadistic glee, the nascent daeva assaulted Rever with scionic powers and showed no remorse or concern for his well-being following the altercation. This left the squad much to consider in their relationship with the child. Over the following week, Staier and the squad arranged for the Aquila XXV wreck to be salvaged and brought to a warehouse for repairs. They purchased a replacement reactor core from Simin Omid and repair supplies from Jaffar before beginning their restoration of the ship. It was during this time that Admiral Thaddeus Raun arrived with a Union heavy cruiser to orbit Lamia and deployed Union forces into the neutral colony in search of the deserted soldiers, offering a considerable bounty for their capture. Staier implemented a plan to contact Admiral Raun and secure their escape. They used a heavly modified planedyne to enter the upper atmosphere where Kaimi transported Rever and himself onto the Union starship to meet with Raun. Together, Staier and Raun formulated a plan. Upon returning to their warehouse base, the group found that the trip had caused Kaimi's mindscape to destabilize and that the faelynn risked losing control of his powers and creating a scionic singularity. Taking quick action, Staier, Eberhart, Rever and BOB used the ship's old storage module to place Kaimi in stasis. Having thus bought some time, they jury-rigged a replacement scion core casket with the salvaged remains from Aquila XXV. With the impending catastrophe averted, they could turn their attention to the existing crisis in fulfilling the perilous plan laid by Staier and Raun. While repairs continued on Aquila XXV, the squad went to finish their business with Simin Omid who had retrieved young Morvarid from the soldiers' care. They found the vasharil jaunter dead, and decided to bring Morvarid with them away from Haven.